There are two judgments that are coming and to the believer, we only need to be concerned with one. Thanks to the blood of Jesus, our faith in Him, we won't have to deal with the later one that everyone else will have to face. The first one that is referred to 1 Corinthians and in the Book of Romans, where Paul tells us that we will all have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. This is ONLY for the Christians. It has nothing to do with your salvation, it has nothing to do with you being evicted from heaven, it has nothing to do with you getting into some hot water with God, it is the Bema seat of Christ. It would be the same seat that an athlete would receive a gold, silver or bronze medal. It's all awards, it's only for believers, we are going to be judged for our motives for what we have done for Christ.
The second judgment found in Revelation 20:11 is something that no believer is going to be involved in and that is the Great White Throne judgment. We are going to be rewarded or accept loss if we didn't do something Jesus told us to do, or we did them with the wrong motive. It has nothing to do with you losing your salvation. Judgment will be your appointment before the throne of Christ, by Jesus and it should be something we are excited about. We have all failed. But God's grace will handle that. We all get up wanting to serve Jesus every day and we fight with the flesh, to see that through by the time we lay our heads down at night. That's our battle.
John is going to show us the activity that is happening around the throne where Jesus is sitting in heaven. He is surrounded by that emerald rainbow. He is there with all this light flashing and thundering and the voices being uttered. That is terrifying. John is watching this unfold from the safety of heaven, and what is about to happen on earth, in Chapter 5, soon to come is the wrath of Almighty God. So we are about to see the judgment being levied upon a Christ rejecting world. This will either terrify you or excite you depending on where your heart is with Jesus.
Revelation 4:4-11 ~ "Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dresses in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
All of this that John is unveiling for you of what he saw, is actually happening. There are four living creatures bowing before the throne right now, saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come."Awesome to think that this is going on right this very minute, and that John saw 2000 years ago, he saw what it is like, what is will be like, because he saw the eternal picture, of these 24 elders, who we learned prior to this, that are representatives of the believers. We know that these 24 elders have been redeemed from all the earth, they are men or mankind, they have been purchased out of the world by the blood of Christ, we can also collectively understand that they represent the believers, but there are records in Scripture of the 12 tribes of Israel, for in heaven the foundational stones have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, the names of the 12 sons of Jacob in heaven, but also the names of the 12 apostles, equaling of course, 24. Collectively representing the believers across the ages, 24 elders. We don't know their names and can't point to them specifically, but that's not the point. That is not what God would have us glean out of it. The point is that gathered together before all time and eternity, the collective representation of God's people.
There is coming attractions for all of us believers! Regarding this preview into heaven, we are looking at what we will see in heaven. For it is a real place. We looked at before how these 24 elders will be seated around the throne room of God. They have a unique place. Our concept and thought is just to get there. We get in because of who we know. We know Jesus Christ, therefore. We have a ticket that enables us to sit down with Him.
They also have a unique practice before God. They are sitting. They are not worried. They are not panicking, we are entering into the rest of God when we arrive. Some Christians sweat out their relationship with Christ, as if its a performance based relationship. They are so bound and caught up with their regulations and performance, that is religion, not a relationship! It's legalism. We are seated in the heavenlies and our citizenship is in heaven. Are you living a life of freedom? Do we pledge our lordship to the things of the past in this world, or do you accept his grace and mercy? Jesus has set us free! Sit down in the power of God and He will do it. It's the power of God by the Holy Spirit in your life.
They also have a unique protocol before the Lord. They are clothed in white raiment. This is the righteousness or the doing of deeds of the saints. That is in this lifetime, not later. There are no homeless in heaven. You can't feed them there or visit the sick either. There is no sick in heaven. The white raiment that they have been given, has been give to them from the Lord and its representative of the deeds they did while they were serving in their Christian ministry, that they performed here on earth.
Remember John is looking ahead into the future. He's there by Spirit and he sees the church in heaven, for the church has been raptured, and these 24 elders also had a unique possession in heaven. They had crowns of gold. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, He is going to reward us for the things we did while in our body. It's not for our bragging rights, these crowns, not for us to compare with one another, but to cast it back to Jesus for his glory. It is God who created everything and it is He would gives us the opportunity to share it with Him.
Heaven, what do we know? In Revelation 4:1-3, the rapture of the church has taken place, the church is in heaven, and the church isn't mentioned again until Revelation 19, when she appears in heaven with Jesus as He returns to earth in the Second Coming. John the apostle says this,
Revelation 4:5-8 ~ "From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come."
Whenever you read in Scripture, the proceeding forth of lightnings. thunderings and voices, it is always an association with God's throne and it's always an association with God's dealing with man. First case, when God is speaking with Moses on the mountaintop, what happens? Mount Sinai begins to shake, there are lightnings, thunderings and the sound of a trumpet as if it were talking, and Moses was there with God for 40 days. He was with the Lord, sustained by the power of God. Moses comes down from the mountaintop and he has some sort of veil over his head. He sees the glory of God. His face is shining. But because he had left God's presence it had begun to diminish. So rather than have the people see the glory and then have it diminish, Moses comes down from the mountain with the absolute authority of God but he veils his face in the presence of the people. So they don't see the glory fade. Not sure how long he kept it on, but Moses announces the law of God, the blueprints to the tabernacle. They told Moses that they were afraid of the thunderings, lightnings and the voices.
We see throughout Scripture, that these things always precede God's intervention, God speaking to man, or God's judgment. So this is now our introduction into the judgments of God that are soon coming to the earth from Heaven's vantage point. It is responsible to be fearful of the judgment of God, more so from the unbelievers perspective over that of the believer. God said to John, who represents you, "Fear not!" It will be unlike anything we have seen before. They didn't want Moses around because they were fearful of God. That generation of people, non believers, don't enter into the Promised land due to their unbelief. Some people say they will believe when they see. That isn't the case. In God's world, seeing comes from believing.
We will expand on that thought more tomorrow.
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